1. Field
A water dispensing apparatus and a control method thereof are disclosed herein. Application
2. Background
Generally, a water dispensing apparatus is an apparatus which supplies water, and dispenses the water as much as a user wants according to the user's operation. The stored water is dispensed through a nozzle when the user operates a lever or a button. The water dispensing apparatus includes a valve where the nozzle is opened while the user operates the lever or the button, and the water is dispensed. Based on a visual inspect of an amount of water filled in a cup or a container the user terminates an operation of the lever or the button.
The water dispensing apparatus may be applied to various fields, and may be representatively applied to a refrigerator and a water purifier. In particular, the water dispensing apparatus provided at the refrigerator and the water purifier may have a function in which a preset amount of water is automatically supplied according to the user's operation.
In Korean Patent No. 10-0816149, a height of the container seated in the container seating part is determined by a first ultrasonic sensor, and a level of water filled in the container is determined by a second ultrasonic sensor. When the water level reaches a predetermined level, an operation of an actuator is stopped, and dispensing of the water is stopped.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,743,801, a first sensor provided at a side surface of a container for receiving water measures a height of the container, and a second sensor provided above the container detects a level of water filled in the container. When the water level reaches a predetermined level, dispensing of the water is stopped.
The above-described water dispensing apparatus or system, an error occurs when the height of the container is initially measured, or the height of the container is erroneously measured due to external factors. Based on such an error, it may not possible to dispense an amount of water as much as the user wants. For example, when a thickness of the container is thicker than that of a normal cup, or the container has a structure in which a handle thereof extends further upward than an upper end thereof, the level of water which is actually filled in the container may not be accurately measured by a shape of the container.
Even when a spoon, a fork or a straw is put in the container, the sensor may not accurately recognize the height of the container. There may also occur a problem that measuring of the height of the container is not accurately performed according to a position of the container or a sensor state, and thus reliability in an operation of the sensor is lowered.
In U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0166153, a refrigerator detects a height of a container and a level of water in the container when a user presses an automatic water supply button, and allows dispensing of the water. There is also disclosed a structure in which a desired value, such as 50%, 80% and 90%, based on the height of the container, is input through an operation of a button, and a state in which the water is filled is indicated through a display in the form of a character.
However, according to the above-described art, since an amount of water to be dispensed is set to a percentage of the height, the user may not intuitionally grasp the amount of dispensed water. As a result, there is a disadvantage that the user should operate again the button to obtain a desired amount of water. Since the user may not also intuitively grasp a dispensing state, an accurate information of a target water level or a change of the water level may not be substantially delivered to the user.
The above disclosure of the prior art is incorporated herein by reference.